K. Michelle Biography

Kimberly Michelle Pate, better known by her stage name K. Michelle (born March 4), is an American recording artist, pianist, guitarist and songwriter. She first received notice in 2009 with the charting single "Fakin' It" (featuring Missy Elliott), and later went on to release the follow-up singles: "Fallin'" and "I Just Can't Do This". In the summer of 2012, K. Michelle garnered further attention by appearing in the VH1 reality series Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta. Following her appearance on the show, she landed a contract deal with Warner Bros. Records. She released her long-delayed debut album Rebellious Soul on August 13, 2013. The album saw commercial success, debuting at number 2 on the Billboard 200 and selling 72,000 copies its first week.

Life and career

2008"2011: Career beginnings

K. Michelle's career began when she signed to Jive Records in December 2008. She released the buzz singles "Self Made" and "Fakin' It" in 2009 in hopes of garnering attention from the public eye. While "Self Made" peaked at #89 on Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and received hardly any attention, Michelle's Missy Elliott"assisted "Fakin' It" went on to attain slight attention from the urban audience for its racy content and male-bashing lyrics. In 2010, following the buzz singles' release, Michelle went on to release two follow-up singles: "I Just Can't Do This" and "How Many Times"; both of which respectively charted at #53 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs before asking to be brought out of her label contract by RCA Records in October 2011. Prior to her departure from RCA, K. Michelle was in the process of recording her debut Rebellious Soul (formerly titled Pain Medicine) that was slated to feature collaborations from the likes of R. Kelly, Trina, Usher, Gucci Mane, Akon and Missy Elliott. However, only R. Kelly's contributions saw the light of day on the final cut of the album

2012"present: Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta and Rebellious Soul

In 2012, K. Michelle joined the cast on season one of VH1's reality TV show Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta. During its run, Michelle announced she would be leaving the show after the second season to move to New York to join Love & Hip Hop and focus more on her music career. Following her appearance on the reality series, Michelle signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records and has since then confirmed that her debut album would likely be released sometime in 2013. K. Michelle later revealed on Twitter that her debut album has since then been revised from Pain Medicine to its current working title, .Rebellious Soul On April 22, 2013, Michelle released a promotional single and accompanying music video called "I Just Wanna" via iTunes and YouTube.

In May 2013, she released the lead single from Rebellious Soul called "V.S.O.P." The album was released on August 13, 2013.

Artistry

K. Michelle lists her influences as R. Kelly, Whitney Houston and Mary J. Blige.

Discography

Albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions			Sales
		US	US R&B	UK R&B
Rebellious Soul	Released: August 13, 2013 Label: Atlantic Format: CD, digital download	2	1	62	US: 94,000

Mixtapes

List of mixtapes with selected details

Title	Album details
What's The 901?	Released: September 1, 2010 Hosted by Future Star DJs
For Colored Girls/Pre-Pain Medicine	Released: December 25, 2010
Signed, Sealed, & Delivered	Released: June 10, 2011 Hosted by DJ Noize & DJ Brandnew
0 Fucks Given	Released: July 15, 2012 Hosted by DJ Sense

Singles

Year	Title	Peak chart position		Album
		US	US R&B
2010	"I Just Can't Do This"	"?	53	rowspan="2"
2011	"How Many Times"	"?	53
2013	V.S.O.P.	101	31	Rebellious Soul

Other charted songs

Year	Title	Peak chart position	Album
		US R&B
2009	"Self Made" (featuring Trina & Gucci Mane)	89
	"Fakin' It" (featuring Missy Elliott)	100
2010	"Fallin"	56

Guest appearances

List of non-single guest appearances, with other performing artists, showing year released and album name

Title	Year	Other artist(s)	Album
"Love Is"	2010	R. Kelly	Love Letter
"Put It In"	2012	Bobby V	Dusk Till Dawn

Filmography

Television

Year	Film	Role
2012"2013	Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta	Herself
2014"present	Love & Hip Hop: New York	Herself